Renowned Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko, who made headlines in April for denouncing her country’s military forces when the invasion of Ukraine began, was sent to a psychiatric hospital in the Siberian region, according to her lawyer, Sergei Podolsky.
(Also read: Ukraine: 21 killed by Russian missiles in Odesa while attacking Lisichansk)
The communicator was arrested on the grounds of spreading false news about the use of force by the Russian army, when she reported an airstrike against the Drama Theater in the city of Mariupol where dozens of civilians were hiding.
Since then, Ponomarenko, who lived with her two children, was transferred to the city of Barnaul at the end of June, where she remained confined.
(It may interest you: Russia announces the conquest of all of Lugansk, a key bastion of Ukraine)
The defense attorney denounced that the Russians interrogated the minors and that even the testimony of his daughter Maria became evidence against her.
Journalist Maria Ponomarenko from Barnaul, the Altai region was moved from a detention center to a psychiatric hospital, where she’ll spend next month. Maria was detained in April for writing about the situation in Mariupol; she was charged with ‘writing fakes about Russian army’ pic.twitter.com/qM8UeRzMIm
— The Siberian Times (@siberian_times) July 2, 2022
According to Podolsky, the detainee will be held in the Altai Psychological Clinical Hospital for 28 days, a measure criticized for its severity against the press.
Censorship in Russia has caused dozens of Russian journalists to be forced into exile in another country to denounce the acts they commit in the Kremlin in Ukraine, since the laws imposed make it a crime to report on the invasion with up to 15 years in prison.
Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko is locked up in psychiatric hospital after posting #antiwar feelings. She can face ten years in jail, or indefinite incarceration in a psychiatric facility.
“At least it’s not prison”
twitter psychiatry would say.https://t.co/m6cNARnn4i pic.twitter.com/MfO08O4iMj— Scottos Maximos (@ScottosMaximos) July 4, 2022
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